Wouldn't Change a Thing
by 82and9make91
Summary: Its the most recognizable thing about her, but why does Erza have her hair remain so long would it would be easier for it to be shorter? A curtain Ice Mage may have had something to do with it. GrayZa ONE-SHOT.


_This is my second GrayZa Story, I hope you like it ^_^  
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_'Fairy Tail' belongs to Hiro Mashima  
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**Wouldn't Change a Thing**

A fifteen year old Erza Scarlet sat alone with her back to one of the tables of the guild hall. In one hand she held a plainly colored brush and in the other she held the end of her scarlet hair. She was slowly and precisely brushing her hair. With each brush she was getting more annoyed.

Not only was this the third time that day she had to partake in this activity, but her hair had now reached a point where it was so long and so easily tangled, that it felt like a job request just to keep it straight. The usual loud noises of the guild didn't help her mode either and the fact that she was so busy and unable to keep everyone in line was making her more frustrated.

"Is this what they call a 'bad hair day' I wonder?" she whispered angrily to herself.

But Erza Scarlet never gave up. She would defeat this new 'enemy' swiftly and be on with the rest of her day. At leasts she hoped it would be swift anyway.

Just then a fourteen year old Gray Fullbuster walked by her. His shirt had been lost long ago and he hadn't noticed at all. The young man had just returned from a small job, and had hoped to find a similar request that would catch his interest. He didn't even notice the girl's presence among the chaos until she called out to him.

"Gray, your shirt!"

He first turned to her and then looked down at himself to see that the dark blue shirt he had put on that morning was no where to be seen. "Damn...I really liked that one. I wonder where it is..." he thought out loud.

"Go put on another then" Erza told him but not in as a commanding voice as he was use to. It was then that he took full notice of the girls situation as he watched her run the brush through her hair only for it to get caught in a tangle and pull her head to the side until the the knot was was gone.

"Thats strange...I don't usually see you do that here. Did you forget to do it or something?" he told her with a bored expression. It wasn't all that surprising a sight but he just wanted to sift the spotlight from himself at the moment.

This only serves to get her more annoyed. "Of course I didn't forget! I brushed my hair when I woke up _and _before I got dressed, but its still full of tangles."

Gray sighed and turned to walk away, without thinking much of her situation, but she continued speaking to him.

"I'm truly growing tired of all this hair. It keeps getting in my eyes, it takes to long to brush properly.." she says as her head is pulled to the side once more. "...not to mention its impractical to have hair this long when I have to fight so much...I'm thinking about cutting it"

"Don't."

He says it firmly and without thinking. He instantly regretted it as well, as he turned to see her looking at him with a confused expression on her face. Now he was in trouble.

"I mean...ahh..." he stammers and tries to hide the blush on his face. The words just aren't coming to him. An unbearable painful silence falls on them and Gray stares at the ceiling and silently curses Erza for continuing to speak with him moments earlier.

"Why not?" Erza's questioning voice finally breaks the silence.

"Huh?" he mutters as if he didn't hear her.

"My hair. Why don't you want me to cut it?" she asked still staring up at him in a confused manner.

"Uhh..well...your hair is..."

He tries to desperately not to say 'that word', even though he knows thats how he truly feels. He can't say it, not here, not in front of her of all people, not in front of anyone really. All it would take is for one person to hear him say it and he would never live it down. He could have sworn he saw Cana near by and once she knew something all of Fiore would know by the end of the day. The redhead keeps staring at him and he wished his mind could be quicker and give him a better word to say. He would say anything at this point. Anything but that word...

_Pretty._

He had thought that about her hair from the first time he saw her. When she walked through the guild doors for the first time wearing rags, a patch over her eye, and being covered in dirt from head to toe, he remembered thinking absentmindedly _'Well...at least her hair is pretty.'_

Even thought it was shorter then, and now it almost reached to the middle of her back, he still thought it looked good that way. Besides he didn't want her to change. For whatever reason the thought unsettled him so much that he couldn't control himself from reacting without thinking the moment she brought up cutting her hair.

So now he found himself in this incredibly awkward situation hoping with all his might that he could find some way out of it. Finally after what felt like several minutes, which in reality was only a few seconds, he thought of something.

"I...I think your hair is cool..." he says without looking at her. That spot on the ceiling was so much more interesting at the moment wasn't it?

"You think...my hair is cool?" she asked him with a hint of shock in her voice and expression.

"Well y-yeah..." he said and tried to regain his composer. He crossed his arms and stared right at her now. He refused to act skittish any more, even if he was still plenty nervous.

"Its like...when you get all mad at us for something stupid and you yell at us for it, your hair just kind of flows around like the fires of hell or something." he continues to say.

Erza is a bit taken back by that statement because she can't tell if its a complement or not, but either way for some reason she finds herself amused and a little happy that he thinks that of her.

"I see, so thats what you think. Maybe I'll let it grow out then." she says happily and looks up at him. Her hair moves slightly in the process and covers one of her eyes as it often does. Gray likes it when it does that as well. He thinks it makes her look intense and mysterious, but she _really_ didn't need to know that.

"Y-yeah well, its your hair so do what you want to with it" he says and tries to sound annoyed. With that he turns swiftly and starts walking in the first direction he sees is open. He can't remember why he was there at the moment but that didn't matter as all he wanted to do now was get out of there was quick as his feet would carry him.

Erza watches him leave and a warm feeling she can't quite explain fills her chest. She likes it though and as the noise of the guild swirls around her she keeps brushing her hair. But now she does it with a larger since of pride.

The brush falls and rises again, falls and rises again...

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_**Tenrou Island- **Several Years Later_

She couldn't tell if he wasn't speaking because he had nothing to say or if it would simply hurt to much just to say the words.

Gray and Erza made their way slowly over the rough land of the island as they tried to catch up with the others. Although she told him it was bad idea, he had moved from the position he had been in, in which he was hunched over and leaning on her. Now he stood completely up right and the only contact they had was him keeping his hand on her shoulder for balance.

It was still clear as day that if she wasn't there that he couldn't be very mobile at the moment. With every breath and with every step he winched in pain and she did the same when she saw that pained expression on his face.

"I'm fine...just need to walk it off." he told her when she looked over at him. He manged a smile but it was still apparent he was struggling.

"I'm sure" she replied in disbelief.

_Men and their pride..._Erza thought bitterly and smirked

They continued on in the same direction they had started for a little while longer. The silence remanded ,but it was a some what comforting one now that the serious air around them had been broken. She let him continue to go on as he was but she kept her eyes on him like a hawk. She wasn't in the best of shape herself but she could tell she was still better off then he was.

"Look at me...I've barely done anything and I'm still letting a few scratches slow us down..." he whispers while watching his feet move slowly over a patch of dirt.

"You've done very well. Your opponent was someone that deceived the council _and _one of the most powerful members of Grimoire Heart. It goes without saying that you have made the guild proud today." she tells him.

"Maybe I'm just mad I didn't get to pass the S-Class exam." he smirks playfully.

She rolls her eyes at him. "I have no doubt that you will be an S-Class Mage someday Gray."

"The Great Titania thinks so highly of me? I'm touched."

Before she can respond to his cheeky comment the ground where Gray just stepped gives in to his weight and it has caused him to start to fall. He falls towards her and out of instinct she reaches to grab him. They both let out a gasp of shock and pain as their bodies collide with a thud and they are once again in the same stance that they were the first time they had bumped into each other, with most of Gray's weight being supported on Erza's shoulders.

His first reaction was to push himself off of her to releave her of his weight. He knew she must be very sore herself and he didn't want to contribute to it. But she kept her arm on his shoulder and refused to let him go. This resulted in them standing there with only the sound of their heavy breathing to keep them company.

"I'm sorry..." he says painfully.

The light atmosphere of seconds before was gone. It was then that they both felt the seriousness of their situation. They were far from safe. Their most powerful enemy, a former Master of Fairy Tail, was still in their way. The very real chance that they may not return home dawned on them for the first time, or perhaps it was simply so apparent and threating now that they couldn't ignore it.

Erza stared at the ground for a few seconds until she raised her head and all she saw was red. At first she didn't know what to make of what she was seeing but then it dawned on her. Her hair, which had been trying to escape from its tie for sometime now, had finally done just that and was now completely covering her face. The image of what she must of looked like at the moment popped into her head and despite the darkness of the situation she smiled and even laughed a little. This caused Gray to look up in confusion only to be meet with a face covered in scarlet locks. He smiled, the sight was just so uncharacteristic for her that he couldn't help it.

"You look pretty ridiculous" he told her while trying to hold back a chuckle. Her smile, that is almost being hidden as well, widens before she asked him a question that caught him off guard.

"Do you still think my hair is 'cool' now?"

He pauses for a moment as a sweet memory rolls through his mind. He then looks at her and can see one of her eyes staring at him through the red mess that was her hair. Then he smirks and says happily and firmly.

"Ice Cold."

Then they laugh. They laugh because it was such a horrible pun. They laugh despite the fact that it hurts to. They laugh because it might very well be the last time they get to.

After they've finished Erza reties her hair into the usual pony tail and they continue on. Nothing more needed to be said. Their resolves were restored because they still had each other to lean on. Even if a powerful enemy was ahead of them,so was their _nakama_ and that was all they needed to keep moving forward. They share one more glance at each other before both looking forward.

He would probably never tell her, but even if it was covered in mud,dirt,and her own blood, Gray still thought she had pretty hair.

_The End._

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_This story has been on my mind for a while. Like literally since I started to read 'Fairy Tail', but I just thought of a good ending for it recently so I finally got to finish it :) _

_The inspiration for this pretty much came from me wondering why Erza has her hair so long, I mean for all the reason she mentions in the story you'd think she would prefer to have it shorter. So why does she keep it long? With that in mind, and my GrayZa fan mind taking over to give an answer to that question, this story was given life. I still think in the hands of a better writer it could have ended up better, but I still think its ok. I hope you liked it!  
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_I like reviews so please give me some! I've been trying to give Erza more of an elegant speaking style as I believe she speaks that way, and I've tried to make Gray speak more roughly, does that come across?  
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